Rogers Hall School - Splinters Yearbook (Lowell, MA)

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My Hands The blood of life runs through my hands VVhich may in trouble soothe, In longing search, In anger strike, With gentleness caress. And in these hands I hold Another's hands, The book to leam, A pen to write, The brush to paint. My deeds are in my hands revealed, Roughness of toil, Softness of love, Lines of grief, Mirror of my joys. These hands are clasped In friendship deep, In loving trust, In understanding, And in deep prayer. My hands are symbols Of my own heart, My deepest thoughts, My hope for peace, My love of God. Comm Tucxnn '63

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james' chief concern was the impact of the older civilization of Europe upon American life. ll He desired to know the meaning of European thought and tradition, how it differed from that of America. and what were the possible effects of one on the other. He found the difference in the two traditions to be a matter of age and experience. 'F ujames' interior life was very nearly his entire life. The theme of the dedicated life of the artist recurs in his workg '3 however, james' stories often deal with melodramatic violence. Concerning The Turn of the Screw, james said, I meant to scare the whole world with that story. 14 This might be either because he was unsure of himself, or because the frustration which is dominant in james' work was partly sexual. 15 But, if he had fought in the Civil War, his whole future attitude toward America might have been different. His next concern was more exclusively an English stage. He analyzed the English character with extreme subtlety, verging at times on obscurity. U' Thomas Hardy said that james had a ponderously warm manner of saying nothing in infinite sentences. H On the other hand, Gamaliel Bradford said in American Portraits: . . . he lived and thought and felt to write great novels. 'B ln only two long short stories did james ever achieve popularity or his nearest approach to it. One was Daisy Miller and the other The Turn of the Screw. Daisy Miller is the story of an American girl in Switzerland and Italy. At first the story was attacked viciously and was said to be a 'libel' on American womanhood. Today, Daisy is accepted as a delightful, harmless creature, a victim of social customs she does not understand. However, because Daisy, who is the most remem- bered of all james' heroines, dies of Roman fever in lless than half a sentence james was aoain severel criticized. ' ra Y 19 These are four reasons given for james' comparative unpopularity. One is his difficult style, another is his reticence, his seeming lack of sympathy with his characters is a third, and the last is his interest in trivialities. But if one looks more closely, he will see that the difficult style belonged only to later dictated works and to the earlier ones that he revised long after their original publica- tion. Reticence seems to be a sounder reason, however, for his unpopularity because the reader must guess for himself, with little assurance, that he has guessed accurately. His lack of sympathy is more apparent than real. james shows his interest and devotion to his characters by a deep con- cern with their response to situation and environment. james, himself, gives an answer as to whether he was overly interested in trifles. He said, The subjects only seemed to be trivial to those who did not look under the surface and My subjects are not trivial to me. 20 Anstry and Alfred Sutro said that if he took his time he always finally reached a point that was well worth waiting for. 2' This statement is a Hne tribute to a truly great master. JUDY ANDansoN '64 1. S. Nowell-Smith, The Legend of the Master, p. xxi. 2. Authors Today and Yesterday, S. I. Ktmitz, p. 351. 3. S. Nowell-Smith, op. cit. p. xv. 4. Authors Today and Yesterday, op. cit. p. 353. 5. lbid., pp. 352-4. 6. lbid., p. 354. 7. Ibid., p. 354. 8. Ibid., p. 354. 9. Ibid., p. 354. 10. S. Nowell-Smith, op. cit., pg. xv-ii. ll. The Oxford Companion to nglish Literature, Paul Harvey, Ed., p. 406. 12. M. Swan, Henry James, p. 42. 13. Ibid., p. 9. 14. Authors Today and Yesterday, op. cit., p. 356. 15. M. Swan, op. cit., p. 37. 16. The Oxford Companion to,English Literature, op. cit., p. 406. 17. S. Nowell-Smith, op. cit., . xxi. 18. Authors Today and Yesterdfay, op. cit., p. 357. 19. Ibid., p. 356. 20. lbid., pp. 356-7. 21. S. Nowell-Smith, op. cit., p. xxii.

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